Crazy for you
by alwaysshining
Summary: A crazy new school, crazy new friends, and a crazy new romance are all what's in store for Megan Conrad when she transfers to Hollywood Arts.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first fanfiction so I hope whoever reads it enjoys it. I'm totally open to constructive criticism and I'd love to hear from people

Chapter 1

The hallways of Hollywood Arts were weird to say the least, as Megan Conrad attempted to find her new locker. She had never seen so many different kids in one place. The high school she attended back in Colorado was totally different. There, everybody was all kind of the same, and lockers were just lockers.

After about 20 minutes of searching she finally found it. Had she known it was virtually the only blank locker in the place, it probably would've been easier to find. Megan ran a hand through her dark hair as she looked for the paper with her combo on it. After digging through her pockets for a minute, she found it and successfully opened her locker. As she organized her stuff, another girl walked up to the locker next to hers. The other girl looked over at Megan and after a minute, she turned to her and said brightly "Hi! You're new here right?" Megan looked at the girl and with an awkward smile replied "Um, yeah. It's my first day."

"Cool. My name's Tori Vega." The other girl said with a smile, offering her well manicured hand. Megan smiled back and took her hand, replying "I'm Megan Conrad. Meg for short." Tori smiled and said "Nice to meet you Meg." "Ditto." Megan answered.

"So do you know where all your classes are?" Tori asked. Meg sighed. "Not really. This place has me pretty lost." She admitted. Tori gave her a compassionate smile and said "No worries, I'll help you find everything. Let me see your schedule." Meg complied, digging around in her bag until she came up with a slightly crumpled paper which Tori took. She examined it for a minute before handing it back.

"We have a class together but it's not until after lunch." She said, smiling. "Most of your classes are down that hallway there." She said, pointing. Meg nodded and put the schedule back in her bag. "Thanks Tori." She said with a small smile. "No problem." Tori replied. "If you want, I can find you for lunch. You can sit with my friends and I, then after I'll show you where our class is." "Okay," Meg replied "Sounds like a plan." "Cool. I'll meet you here before lunch then." Tori said. Meg nodded.

"I have to get to class, but I'll see you later." Tori said before walking off. "Yeah, see ya." Meg replied. She had to get to class as well, so she grabbed the rest of her stuff then headed down the hallway that Tori had pointed out.

Classes at Hollywood Arts were actually pretty fun. Meg found herself enjoying the periods, instead of wishing that they were over like she had at her old school. She seemed to fit in here better overall than she had at her old school. Back in Colorado, a lot of kids had thought that her rocker/punk style was weird and outdated, but no one seemed to care at HA. No one batted an eye at her pierced lip and nose, her shaggy jet black hair or her Sex Pistols t-shirt. Meg had seen about a million different styles here, and all of them were accepted.

The hours seemed to fly by, and soon it was lunch time. Meg went to her locker to wait for Tori. After a few minutes she could see the tall brunette girl heading towards her. When Tori caught sight of her she gave and enthusiastic wave. Meg smiled a little and waved back.

"So you ready to eat?" Tori asked once she reached the lockers. "Yeah actually, I'm starving." Meg replied. "Then I guess we better go!" Tori answered with a smile. She set off towards the Asphalt Café and Meg hurried to follow.

Tori escorted Meg to the food truck, then to a table occupied by several other teenagers. "Hey guys!" Tori greeted the other kids. There was a mingled 'hey' from the group, before they noticed the new girl standing slightly behind Tori.

"Who's your shadow Tori?" asked the goth girl sitting across the table. "Oh!" Tori exclaimed. "Guys, this is Meg. She's new." Meg took a small step forward and waved, doing her best to smile confidently. The kids at the table made noises of recognition as the two sat down, before Tori introduced each properly.

She gestured to each kid in turn as she said "Meg, this is Robbie…and Rex, Beck, Andre, Cat, and Jade." As Tori introduced them, Meg checked each one out. Robbie was a nerdy looking kid with a puppet on his lap. The puppet apparently, was Rex. Meg didn't like the way either of them were looking at her; Robbie was giving her puppy dog eyes, and Rex was waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Beck seemed like a pretty chill guy, with his long, dark hair and laid back expression. Andre had dreads and was all smiles as he greeted Meg. She was a little bit taken aback by how hyper the little redhead Cat was, but she smiled and waved all the same. Jade was the smirking goth girl who sat across from them. Meg couldn't help but stare at her. She was gorgeous. Meg found herself struggling to keep her jaw from dropping.

"What are you looking at, new meat?" Jade asked with a snarl. "Not much." She answered on reflex. She winced when she realized what she had said. A deadly silence fell over the table as the kids waited to see how Jade would react. Jade stared at Meg for an intense minute, before she cracked up. The table let out a collective sigh of relief before looking at Jade like she was crazy.

"I like you newbie." Jade chuckled. "It's about time someone had the balls to make a comment like that." She went back to eating her lunch, and with the crisis averted, the others did too.

While the others picked up their conversations, Meg started eating her pizza. She had just started to space out when a cynical voice brought her back to reality. "So Meg, what exactly do you _do_?" Jade asked. "What do you mean?" Meg asked, confused. "I mean, we all go here because we can _do_ something. So what can you do?" "Oh." Meg said. "I play guitar." "Cool!" said Andre. "I'm really into music too! What kind of guitar do you play?" "Um well I mainly play classical and flamenco, but I can play a little of everything." "That's awesome!" Andre exclaimed. "Maybe we can jam some time." "Yeah, that'd be cool." Meg replied. The bell rang before anyone could say something else, and the teens got up to head to their next class.

The rest of the day flew by, and soon Meg was driving back to her new house. The class she shared with Tori had been…interesting. She had been a little weirded out by the teacher Sikowitz, but he seemed like an okay teacher once you got past some of the crazy. Most of the kids they had eaten lunch with were in that class with them. Meg was kind of relieved because at least she knew someone else besides Tori.

As she pulled into her driveway, Meg found herself smiling. Despite her expectations, it had actually been a really good first day. It seemed like Hollywood Arts would be a great fit for her after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hey Meg!" Tori called brightly as she walked towards her locker. A few days had passed since Meg first arrived at Hollywood Arts and she was settling in nicely. "Oh hey!" Meg replied as she turned around quickly, hiding her locker with her body. "What are you doing with your locker there?" Tori asked, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, nothing. Just decorating it. Ta da!" Meg exclaimed, stepping aside to let Tori see what was behind.

The entire locker was covered in guitar picks arranged in a rainbow pattern. "Wow Meg, that's amazing! It's so colorful!" Tori exclaimed. Meg laughed and nodded. "Yeah that was the goal." She said with a chuckle. As she turned back to her newly decorated locker and began to take out her things, the rest of the gang began to gather like they did every morning. It didn't take long for them to notice the change to Meg's locker.

"Nice locker Meg!" Andre said with a smile. "I'm digging the guitar picks!" "It's so pretty!" Cat cried, staring at it in wonder. Meg laughed at the little red head while Tori gently patted her on the head. Jade quirked an eyebrow and eyed the locker for a moment before saying "I'll admit Newbie, it isn't half bad. Definitely better than what a lot of the other dinks around here think of." Meg couldn't help but grin at Jade's praise, and she could feel a blush creeping up to her cheeks. "Thanks guys." She said, still smiling. They all smiled and said some form of 'you're welcome', all except for Jade of course, who just rolled her eyes. The bell for class rang and they all headed for their separate classes.

Meg was about to go too when a hand snatched her wrist. She turned and found herself face to face with Tori. She looked at her friend in confusion and asked "What's up Tori? We kind of need to get to class." "I know, but this is important and it'll only take a sec." "Okay…" Meg said, giving Tori another weird look. Tori looked a little conflicted, and she heaved a sigh before saying "I've seen the way you act around Jade and it worries me." For a minute, Meg was stunned into silence. Finally she managed to shake off enough of the shock to ask "Why?" Tori sighed again and said "Because I don't want to see you get hurt. You don't know her well enough yet to see it, but Jade is a mean, vicious person with deep psychological problems. You're a really nice girl and if you dated her she'd just crush you."

Meg took a second to think about what Tori had said. She realized two things. The first was that from the way Tori was talking, Jade was actually a viable option for dating. Meg didn't think she'd even have a shot with Jade since she knew that Beck was her ex boyfriend. The second was that Tori didn't seem to have a problem with the fact that Meg was clearly into girls. She smiled and turned to her friend, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Look Tori, I appreciate your concern, but you have nothing to worry about. I'll admit that Jade is pretty hot, but I'm not looking for a relationship right now. I'm not really ready for that." Tori could tell that there was more to that last comment than Meg was saying, but she figured that could wait. She had made her point, and they still had to get to class. "Alright." She said with a small smile. "I'm gonna head to class now, see you for lunch!" "Hey Tori," Meg said as Tori turned to go. "Yeah?" Tori asked over her shoulder. "Does this mean you're okay with the whole gay thing?" Tori laughed and turned back around. "Of course I am. You're my friend silly! I don't care who you want to date. Now come give Tori a squeeze!" Meg laughed too then gave Tori a hug. "Thanks Tori." She said as they broke apart. "No problem!" Tori replied with a smile. "Now we better get going or we'll be late!"

* * *

><p>After school, Meg found herself in the music room, practicing a tricky riff on her guitar. It had been assigned earlier that day in her classical music class and she was having a really hard time with it. She started from the beginning again, putting all of her concentration into getting it right. She was so focused on her playing, she didn't notice that she had acquired and audience.<p>

Finally, after a few minutes she finally finished, a huge smile plastered across her face. That was the first time she had gotten it right. She looked up and was surprised to find Jade standing in the doorway, staring at her.

"Umm, hey." Meg said awkwardly, slowly setting her guitar down. "How long have you been standing there?" It was Jade's turn to blush as she answered. "A while I guess. I came in here looking for Andre. He and I were supposed to work on a song this afternoon, but I can't find him anywhere. Then I heard you playing, and I couldn't help but listen. That was amazing."

Meg ran a hand through her shoulder length hair and smiled a little. "Thanks." Jade gave a small nod and walked further into the room. She pulled up the chair next to Meg and flopped into it, pulling out her phone. Glaring angrily at the device, she furiously typed a message. It seemed like Jade had totally forgotten that Meg was in the room, so she started packing up her music and guitar.

As she stood, her phone fell out of her pocket and onto the floor. Meg didn't notice, but Jade did. She picked it up, accidentally hitting a button as she did. Meg's background flared to life on the screen, displaying a picture of a very pretty blond girl kissing a very happy looking Meg. Jade raised an eyebrow at the photo. She hadn't realized that Meg was interested in people of the female persuasion.

"So who's the chick?" Jade asked as Meg returned to her seat, waving the phone out in front of her. Meg looked horrified when she realized what Jade was talking about. She snatched her phone away from the dark girl and stuffed it back into her pocket. She glared at Jade and snarled "Do you always go snooping through the phones of complete strangers?" Jade smirked and replied "I wouldn't say always, but frequently for sure. Besides, I wasn't snooping. You dropped your phone and I accidentally hit a button when I picked it up for you. You're welcome, by the way. If you want to keep pictures a secret, you probably shouldn't make them your background." Meg sighed, but didn't answer. She knew that Jade had a point.

As Meg gathered up her things, Jade watched in silence. Finally she broke it by saying "You never answered the question." Meg groaned and rolled her eyes. Turning to the other girl, she asked "Why do you care?" Jade shrugged. "Just curious. Can't I try to get to know you a little better, Newbie?" Sighing again, Meg finally gave in. "Her name is Lindsay and she's my girlfriend- I mean, ex girlfriend." An understanding smirk crossed Jade's features at this. "So, still hung up on the ex huh?" she asked. "Unfortunately," Meg replied. "Well what happened?" Jade questioned. "We broke up when I moved. I didn't want to end it, but she didn't think we could handle the distance. So she ended it."

"That blows." Jade said understandingly. Meg figured that this was as close to sincerity as Jade could get, so she continued. "Yeah. The worst part is that I just can't seem to get over her. Thus the background." She looked at Jade then, and with a sad half smile said "You think I'm pathetic, don't you?" Jade laughed a little at that. "Only slightly. " She replied. She looked down at her phone and frowned before looking back at Meg. "Hey, do you want to go get some coffee or something?" she asked. A little confused, Meg said "Weren't you supposed to be working on a song with Andre?" "Yeah," she answered. "But he cancelled on me. His crazy grandma wants him to do something or other. So now I'm free." "Well in that case, I guess coffee would be cool." Meg said, picking up her bag. Jade smiled and said "Cool then. I know a great place a couple blocks away." She picked her stuff up and they headed for the door.

As they walked towards the parking lot, Meg shot Jade a sideways glance. "Jade?" she said after a minute. "What?" Jade answered nonchalantly. "Is this like, a date?" They had reached Jade's car now, and she stopped to look at Meg. She was quiet for so long, Meg was afraid that she'd angered the goth girl. But finally she replied. "I dunno yet. Guess we'll have to wait and see." "Okay." Meg said as she got into the passenger seat. It wasn't the answer she was expecting, it was better. She knew that she wasn't ready for anything serious since she still wasn't over Lindsay, but going to get coffee with a hot girl was a welcome distraction. They pulled out of the parking lot, and Meg smiled. This would be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry this took so long. It's been a really busy week. Originally I wasn't going to have the coffee shop part be this long but I ended up writing a bunch for it so let me know what you think of it

Chapter 3

The coffee shop was warm and smelled delicious as Jade and Meg walked in. They got into the short line in front of the counter and waited in a comfortable silence. Every minute or so, Meg would sneak a glance at Jade. She still couldn't get over how pretty the goth girl was. Soon, they reached the counter and Jade placed their order.

"I'll have a medium black coffee with 2 sugars." She turned to Meg and asked "What do you want?"

"Oh!" Meg said, not realizing that they were ordering together. "I'll have a medium chai tea latte." The guy typed it into the register and gave Jade the total. She handed over a fistful of cash, then walked to the side to wait for their drinks. Meg followed her, and frowned when she caught Jade smirking at her.

"What?" she asked confused. Jade laughed and replied "Oh, nothing. I just didn't realize that you were a fan of sissy drinks." "Whatever." Meg laughed, rolling her eyes. "It tastes good. I don't need you to approve my coffee choices." Jade smirked, and Meg rolled her eyes again before grabbing their drinks and heading for a table. "How much do I owe you?" Meg asked as they sat, grabbing her purse. Jade shook her head and replied "Don't worry about it, it's on me. You can get it next time."

For a while, they sat in a comfortable silence, just drinking their coffee. Finally, Jade broke the silence. "So what do you think of Hollywood Arts so far?" she asked casually in between sips. Meg was taken a little off guard by the question. She hadn't expected Jade to be one for small talk. "Well, so far it's been good. It's way better than the school I went to back in Colorado. The people are better too."

Jade smirked a little at the last part then asked "So you didn't fit in too well at your old school, huh?" Meg sighed and looked down at the coffee in her hands. "Not really," she answered after a minute or so. "No one really understood me there. I was too different. Pretty much everyone was trying to be super normal. Most of them thought I was a freak." Jade frowned at that. Although she didn't know Meg that well yet, she didn't like the idea of people picking on the new girl.

"You must have had some friends." Jade said slowly, eyeing Meg over the lid of her cup. Meg nodded slowly and replied "Yeah. I had friends. My best friend Jessica and my cousin Becca. And of course, there was Lindsay." She shot Jade a look. "But you already knew that." Jade smirked. "Right, the ex girlfriend." Meg chuckled a little at the contempt in her voice.

"No offense, but she sounds like a gank." Jade said as she fiddled with her empty cup. Meg looked at her, confused. "Your ex." Jade clarified. "She seems like a gank. I mean she wasn't even willing to give your relationship a shot when you moved." Meg frowned. She hadn't really thought about it like that before. Then she shrugged and replied "I kind of get it though. I mean, long distance relationships are really hard." It was Jade's turn to frown. "If she really cared about you, about being with you, she should have at least tried." She said, a hint of anger in her voice. Meg was a little taken aback. She didn't realize that Jade would feel so strongly about this. Jade noticed her shock and said "Sorry. Relationships are just important to me. I think that if you're going to be with someone you should put forth the effort to make it work. If you don't what's the point?"

Meg looked thoughtful for a moment as she pondered not only her own former relationship, but also Jade's. At last, she asked the question that had been tugging at the back of her mind. "Is that what happened between you and Beck? Did one of you stop trying?" Jade sighed visibly, and from the look on her face Meg knew that she had struck a nerve. She thought that the other girl would get upset, scream at her, walk out, or maybe all three, but instead she actually answered.

"Beck and I cared about each other a lot and we were together for a long time. It wasn't perfect, we fought a lot and we even had a few minor break ups, but we both put in the work to make it right. The problem for us wasn't that we didn't try hard enough, it was that we realized it wasn't the same anymore." Jade paused and Meg nodded, signaling for her to continue. "Somewhere along the way, we changed. The spark in the relationship was gone. We still loved each other, but it was more like brother-sister love than romantic love. So we called it quits."

When Jade finished, she seemed kind of sad. Without thinking, Meg reached over and gently took her hand. The goth girl's blue-green eyes darted from their hands up to Meg's dark brown ones. Meg gave her a small sympathetic smile. "That blows." She said, still smiling. Jade laughed a little. "Yeah, but it's not like I totally lost him or anything. We're best friends now. Honestly, I think it might be better this way." She replied. "How do you figure?" Meg asked. "Well," Jade said. "Neither of us has really ever had any dating experience besides each other. Now we both get to see who and what else is out there." As she spoke she looked straight into Meg's eyes and smiled. Meg couldn't help but grin back and she felt herself blushing.

Jade stood and chucked her now destroyed cup into the trash. She turned to Meg and said "You ready to get out of here?" Meg nodded and followed Jade out of the café, throwing her cup away as she passed a trashcan.

The drive to Meg's house wasn't a long one. Neither really spoke, other than Meg telling Jade where to turn. Jade pulled up in front of the house after about 10 minutes. She parked, got out, and was holding the passenger door open before Meg even realized that they had stopped. She slipped out of the car and started walking towards her front door. She was surprised and pleased to see that Jade followed.

At the door, Meg stopped. She faced Jade and smiled. "I had fun." She said sheepishly. Jade nodded, replying "Yeah, me too. You're not half bad Newbie." Med laughed and said "You're not so bad yourself. You're definitely not as terrible as people make you seem." Jade raised a pierced eyebrow. "What have you heard?" she asked. Laughing again, Meg replied "Oh, not much. Tori might've mentioned something about you being a mean, vicious person with deep psychological problems, but other than that nothing really." Jade rolled her eyes, muttering "Leave it to Vega." She turned her attention back to Meg and said "Glad I was able to prove her wrong."

Before Meg knew what hit her, Jade pulled her into a strong hug. She quickly returned it, a huge smile plastered across her face when they pulled apart. Jade looked a little uncomfortable but she smiled back. "I gotta go. See you tomorrow." She said before walking back towards her car. She got about halfway there when Meg called out "Hey Jade?"

"What?" Jade asked, turning back. "Did you ever make up your mind?" Meg questioned. Jade looked seriously confused. "About what?" she finally asked. A smirk crept onto Meg's face. "About if this was a date or not." Jade looked at her blankly before she got a smirk of her own.

"That depends." She said slowly. It was Meg's turn to be confused. "On what?"" she asked. "On if you want it to be a date." Jade answered simply. Meg thought for a second, then she smiled. "Yeah," she said "I guess I do." Grinning, Jade did a little mock bow as she said "Your wish is my command."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I had a bunch of projects and then finals. But I'm on break now so hopefully I'll be able to update a lot more.

Chapter 4

The bell rang, and Psychowitz's class began. Meg watched from the back of the class as Andre, Beck, and Robbie were forced onstage to perform a drive by acting skit. Watching the boys scramble to meet Pyschowitz's outrageous demands was entertaining, but Meg soon lost interest. She was more focused on the goth girl sitting two rows ahead of her.

Meg was beyond frustrated. Since their coffee date, she had barely been able to see Jade. Three of her classes had assigned huge projects, plus she was helping Andre write the music for the next school play, so she had basically no free time. It seemed as though Jade was in a similar predicament. Lately, she had just been scribbling into her notebook or running off to do something.

The only thing keeping Meg sane was that every time she did manage to get a little time with Jade, she was rewarded with some display affection, be it just a flirty smile or a full blown hug. Another saving grace was that she had also gotten Jade's number during one of their brief encounters. Text messages were now her main form of communication with Jade. It wasn't great, but it was better than nothing.

After what seemed like an eternity, the class finally ended and Meg gathered up her stuff. The rest of their classmates rushed out the door, eager to escape Pyschowitz's insanity. Jade was about to leave too when Pyschowitz called her out. "Jade, please stay for a moment. We need to talk." The dark girl sighed but nodded, shooting Meg an apologetic look. Meg nodded and left, trying to look as understanding as possible, even though she was frustrated enough to murder puppies.

Meg went to her locker and started rearranging her stuff. The hallways had started to empty but she wasn't in any rush, she was still hoping that she could see Jade before she went home. Soon she was alone, or so she thought. She jumped and screamed a little when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Woah, sorry." Said a male voice. Meg turned to see a boy with short, light brown hair standing behind her. "Um, hi." Meg said with an awkward smile. "Hi!" He said brightly, flashing a white smile. It faded a little when Meg continued to stare at him, confused. "I'm Marcus Little. I'm in your math and tech theater class." "Right. I remember." Meg said, nodding slowly. He smiled again before continuing. "Cool. Well I was heading home, but I saw you and I figured it's now or never." The confusion returned to Meg's face. "What's now or never?" she asked. "Asking you out. Do you want to do something this weekend? Maybe go see a movie or something?"

Meg felt her jaw drop. She never could've seen this coming. She had only talked to Marcus like once, and now he was asking her out. After a couple seconds of stunned silence, Meg finally answered. "Look Marcus, you seem really like a nice guy, but you're not really my type." Marcus' face instantly fell.

"Oh." He said. "Do you mind if I ask what your type is?" Meg sighed. She didn't really want to go there with a kid she barely knew, but he had asked so he would receive. "My type is girls." She said bluntly. Marcus's eyes widened until they were about the size of basketballs. It seemed as though he was at a loss for words, since all he could do was nod slowly and stare.

Finally he pulled himself together and said "Well, okay. I guess I'll see you around." He turned around and walked away quickly, staring down at the ground. Meg sighed. She felt kind of bad about hurting his feelings, but he needed to know the truth. She was turning back to her locker when she saw Jade walking towards her.

"Hey," the goth girl said as she approached. "Hi." Meg answered with a smile. Jade leaned up against the lockers as Meg finished putting her stuff away. "So, who was that guy?" Jade asked casually, looking at her nails. "Oh, that was Marcus. He's in some of my classes." Meg responded. "What did he want?" Jade questioned. Meg rolled her eyes and snorted. "He asked me out." Jade's eyebrows shot up and she looked more than a little peeved.

"And…" she prodded. "And what?" Meg asked, slightly enjoying the jealousy she could hear in the other girl's voice. "What did you tell him?" Jade asked impatiently. "Oh that." Meg said, still playing dumb. "I told him no obviously! You know I don't like boys." She exclaimed. Jade visibly relaxed at that and Meg couldn't help but smile. She closed her locker and picked up her bag. They started walking to the parking lot.

"Jeez Jade, I didn't realize you cared so much." Meg teased. "Whatever," Jade said rolling her eyes. "I just didn't want some creep hitting on you." Meg laughed. "Riiiigghhhttt. Because that's your job, isn't it?" She said with a smirk. Jade blushed bright red and looked away, trying to hide her embarrassment. Meg laughed again and Jade decided it was time to change the subject.

"Are you performing at the Showcase, Meg?" she asked as they walked. "Oh, yeah." Meg said thoughtfully. She had caught the topic switch but decided to let it go. "That's why I've been so crazy busy lately. On top of my other projects, I had to write something for that too." Jade nodded, but there was a frown on her face. As much as she enjoyed the showcase, she didn't like that it was keeping Meg away from her. Ever since their date, Jade had wanted to know more and more about the new girl, but she hadn't gotten much of a chance. It was making her a little wonky. Well, that combined with the stress of her own projects.

They finally made it to the parking lot, and Jade walked Meg to her car. For the entire trip from her locker to her car, an idea had been buzzing around her brain. When they stopped in front of her beat up Chevy Nova, she decided it was time to voice it.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Jade said with a small smile. "Yeah, for sure. " Meg answered with a grin. Jade nodded and started to head for her own car, when Meg called after her. "Jade, wait a sec." She looked back at Meg with a pierced eyebrow quirked. "Yeah?" Meg shrugged and replied "I'll be done with all of my projects and the Showcase by Friday, so I was wondering if maybe you'd want to go to the drive-in with me on Saturday. I heard they're showing The Scissoring this weekend."

Jade's smile widened, and she nodded slowly. "I'd love to, but you have to tell me something first." She said mischievously. "What's that?" Meg asked. Jade grinned as she asked "Is this a date?" Meg laughed and replied "Yeah, I guess it is." "Cool," Jade said. "I'll see you on Saturday then. Pick me up at 7?" Meg nodded and watched happily as Jade walked away.

* * *

><p>Friday came faster than expected and soon Meg found herself standing backstage at the Showcase with Tori. All week, she had been confident and ready, but as each act went by, the knot in her stomach got tighter and tighter.<p>

"Are you okay?" Tori asked, concerned. Although she was physically shaking, Meg managed a smile and said "Yeah, I'm alright. Just super nervous." Tori nodded sympathetically and replied "Everyone gets nervous. Don't worry about it, you'll do great!" "Thanks Tori." Meg replied gratefully. "No problem." Tori said with a smile. "Looks like I'm up. Break a leg. I'll see you after the show!" Tori ran out onto the stage and started her number. It was great, but Meg was having a hard time enjoying it since there was only one act separating Tori's performance from her own.

As Tori finished her song, there was thunderous applause. It stopped pretty quickly once Robbie got on stage. His stand up routine wasn't going too well. People laughed at Rex's jokes but it went back to crickets as soon as Robbie told one. After a painful 5 minutes, Robbie finally finished and exited the stage. Meg swallowed the growing lump in her throat and grabbed her guitar. Showtime.

The MC waited until the crowd had quieted down before he announced the next act. "Hollywood Arts, please welcome to the stage our newest addition Megan Conrad!" There was mild applause as Meg walked onstage. Crossing the stage with quick steps, Meg sat on the stool that was waiting for her and pulled her guitar into her lap. Since she was so new, no one really knew what to expect, except for Jade and Andre. Silence fell as the crowd waited to hear whatever Meg had in store. When everything seemed right, Meg took her pick and started to play.

The song started slow and quiet, just loud enough to be heard. Gradually, it started to build into a fiery flamenco. Meg's fingers danced across the strings, moving so fast they could barely be seen. The audience stood in rapt silence as if under a spell, completely mesmerized by the girl's song. Even her friends were awed by what they were hearing.

Tori turned to Jade with her mouth hanging open and asked "Did you know she could do that?" Jade had been staring up at Meg in wonder, but she looked at Tori and just gave a small nod before saying "Close your mouth Vega. You'll catch flies like that." Tori obeyed and returned her attention to the stage.

Truth was, Jade had no idea what the girl could do. The time she had walked in on Meg playing, she had experienced the girl's talent. But this was totally different. That first time had only been a snippet; this was a whole song with Meg pouring her entire heart and soul into it. Jade was shocked. Just listening, hearing the music that Meg had written made her heart beat a million miles an hour and left her completely breathless. She had never felt this way about music, or a musician. Then just like that, it was over. Meg stood, and with a small bow, left the stage. The crowd erupted in applause, their group of friends cheering loudest of all. Only one thought crossed Jade's mind: Find Meg. While the others were busy cheering and waiting for the next act, Jade slipped away.

Backstage was horribly crowded. Jade had to struggle through performers, stagehands, and costume designers. She was just about to give up when she caught sight of the dark haired guitarist standing near the emergency exit. Pushing, shoving and throwing a few elbows, Jade began to break through the crowd. Meg looked up and flashed a bright smile when she saw Jade making her way through the throng.

"Hey!" she exclaimed when Jade finally managed to break through. "Hi." Jade said a little breathlessly. In the blink of an eye, Jade had her wrapped up in a tight hug. Meg didn't even hesitate to hug back. "You were amazing." Jade said when they pulled apart. Meg blushed and looked away.

"Thanks." She said softly. "But it wasn't that great." A deep frown formed on Jade's face. She gently grabbed Meg's chin and turned it to face her own. "By now you know I don't sugarcoat things. " She said sternly. "You were amazing up there. I've never heard anything like it." There it was again, her heart beating a million miles an hour.

Meg looked up enough to meet her eyes. "Really?" she asked, her brown eyes both hopeful and unsure. Jade swallowed hard and replied weakly "Yeah, really." She knew what she wanted to do more than anything. Apparently, her body did too because before she could stop herself, she leaned in and pressed her lips against Meg's. She could feel Meg's shock at first, but then the other girl melted into the kiss, tangling her fingers in Jade's streaked hair.

They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only a few minutes. At last they pulled apart. The two just stared at each other for a while. When Meg could finally find her voice, all she could say was "Wow." Jade nodded and said "My thoughts exactly."


End file.
